Sigiswald Kuijken's Bach cantata pilgrimage is taking in fewer stops than
those of his contemporaries – he is recording a single cantata for each Sunday
of the liturgical calendar – but it is still an ambitious project. And the
comparisons that it is up against are daunting to say the least; we are in
one-to-a-part territory here, but there are already plenty of those about.
SACD? An excellent decision by somebody at Accent, but it invites comparisons
with Suzuki's superlative cycle. Then there is Kuijken's own back catalogue,
which itself contains some of the greatest Bach cantata recordings ever made.

He is on form though, and this disc holds up well against his earlier offerings.
La Petite Bande is a good deal more petite than it was in the 1990s, and it
has lost a few of its greatest stars. Marcel Ponseele, perhaps the greatest
ever exponent of the baroque oboe, has departed the ensemble and is sorely
missed. However, his replacement, Patrick Beaugiraud, is a player of the same
school, and while he doesn't quite manage the variety of articulation of Ponseele's
obbligato lines, he nonetheless achieves a similar level of musicality and
lyricism. His is the first solo turn, in the bass aria "Es ist euch gut,
dass ich hingehe" of BWV 108 and it is an impressive start to the disc.

Comparisons with Masaaki Suzuki are instructive as both make the most of the
SACD technology to create real intimacy. But where Suzuki's forces excel in
perfecting the ensemble and phrase structuring, Kuijken is happy for a little
imprecision to creep in. The tuning in the strings is rarely 100%, but that
slightly wayward intonation only adds to the sense of immediacy. And unlike
Suzuki, Kuijken takes a relaxed approach to the structuring of phrases. It
sounds almost intuitive, although I'm sure it is highly studied and prepared,
but it allows the instrumental forces to sound all the more vocal for not
being overly regimented or controlled.

Kuijken is a great believer in the virtue of authenticity, so one-to-a-part
is treated as a musical virtue rather than an inconvenient truth of historicism.
He is also an advocate of the cello da spalla, an instrument like a large
viola but tuned as a cello. Discussion continues as to whether the Cello Suites
were written for such an instrument, and until it is conclusively disproved
Kuijken is going to use it as the tenor instrument of his string section.
This makes for a slightly top-heavy sound, or insubstantial rather, but it
fits well into his intimate and relaxed tonal palette.

One aspect of Kuijken's music-making that is well represented on this disc
is his own performance on the baroque violin. He plays obbligato in the aria
"Ich will doch wohl Rosen brechen" in BWV 86 and it is a triumph
of understated baroque elegance, an intricate, weaving line, but with that
earthy, grounded tone of gut strings played by somebody who really knows how
to play on gut strings. As with so many of Kuijken's previous recordings,
it is an example of the sheer variety and musicality that 18th
century instrumentation can bring: he may be a partisan advocate of period
instruments, but he can always demonstrate why they are superior.

None of the vocal soloists really stand out, but that fits Kuijken's approach
well. They are, after all, required to be the choir as often as they are given
solo numbers. All sing with an absolute minimum of vibrato or ornamentation,
neither of which is particularly missed in this relaxed intimate setting.
There are one or two tuning issues, but again, in this relaxed setting one
or two slightly flat notes hardly seem significant. They wouldn't get away
it under Suzuki though, that's for sure.

It is a shame that Kuijken is not trying for a complete cycle, because numerous
as they already are, he really has something unique to say with this music.
The SACD sound really enhances the intimacy; it is as if you have your own
Petite Bande sitting in front of you, and every nuance is faithfully and clearly
reproduced. You could complain that it is underpowered, or top heavy, or imprecise,
or based on a contentious view of Bach's orchestration, but once you have
listened to a few minutes all these thoughts will pass. This may not be the
last word on Bach, but it is close to the last word on Kuijken's Bach. Gavin Dixon
May not be the last word on Bach, but close to the last word on Kuijken's
Bach